I saw this stuff on TV... and at Parts America today. It claims to restore compression among other things. My ole 350 TPI isnt runnin as strong as im sure she did 140000 miles ago. ANybody tried this stuff? it actually comes in a metal bottle (?)!

thanks,
Zach

 

Zach,

Sorry, but sewage from septic systems is pumped into steel tankers, too. It's still sewage.

The only effective "restore" I've ever used comes in a cardboard box - rings, bearings, seals, gaskets, etc. Once the metal is worn away, no measure of alchemy can bring it back to original condition.

What these products can do is to remove and clean sludge and varnish away from valves and rings to allow them to seat a bit better. If the rings are already worn to the point of having little tension and excessive end gaps, and the valves are not sealing due to coking and worn faces, the theory won't work for you.

The best way to "restore" an engine with a lot of miles is fresh parts. Once it's broken in, use synthetic oil to keep it that way. I have some rather impressive results from tear-down on a 350 that spent its 110,000 miles on synthetic. I had to measure several times to make sure I was getting it right, because I couldn't find what I thought would be the correct amount ot taper and ridge.

As far as the snake oils and magic elixers, save them for the chiropractor.

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Later,
Vader
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"No matter how hard you try you can't stop us now"
Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0

 

Zach,

Can't speak for results in a car - BUT- and I swear this is true.....

My mother-in-law ran her new Toro lawnmower completely out of oil ( I presume it used it during break-in) and the motor seized.

When I came to visit she was all shook up.... those mowers are expensive. So, I checked the oil, found it dry, and decided to try some "magic elixer".

I took two full cans of "Restore" and a quart of 10W30 over to her house. Put BOTH bottles of Restore in, and topped it off with the 10W30. The motor started since it was cool.

Ran it up to operating temp at an idle. Then bumped it up to "run" speed for 30 minutes.

The more the engine ran, the less it blew oil. After about 30 minutes of run time, a barely discernable haze was all that was evident. I changed the oil, filling it with 10W40, and told her to go mow some lawn.

That was 4 years ago, and the Toro still runs fine. She checks the oil every time now. It uses about 2 oz. of oil to a 1/2 gallon of gas. I've seen a lot worse.

Yes, "Restore" works......for lawnmowers that is.

As for automobile engines......well, Vader ain't shucking and jiving. Besides that, I ran almost straight "Restore" in that mower - and that stuff's full of metal particles.

Enough to coat the cylinders, bearings, et al with new metal.

Uh, not exactly what you'd call a "high-performance" rebuild.

Just the thought of all that crap running thru a motor gives me the *******...I just figured she had nothing to lose.

BOR

 

Hey, BOX!

How's the siamesed SBC coming along?

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Later,
Vader
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"No matter how hard you try you can't stop us now"
Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0

 

Damn Vader, I couldn't have said it better myself! Something like that Restore crap might help marginally in a motor that isn't too worn out. I actually wasted a few bucks on a can of it once. But just like Vader said, it won't replace the metal that has worn off of your piston rings, and your crank bearings. These "alchemists" get rich convincing people that they have a miracle chemical that will enable you to avoid a costly engine rebuild. If your engine has over 50,000 miles on it, smoke and mirrors won't do a damn thing to help it! Do yourself a favor if you rebuild your engine, and change the oil regularly. Always replace the oil filter when you change the oil, and run a good synthetic, or synthetic blend motor oil.


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89RS w/350 TPI; 69RS/SS w/450 HP 350/Muncie 4-Speed "Too weird to live, too rare to die."

 

I used to run restore in my 2.0 beretta, it actually helped, the car was noticeably slower without the restore, go figure.

Of course, the RS and 79 have never seen a can of restore, I can't bear to put an additive in the ol LO3... lol

[This message has been edited by Macgyver (edited November 26, 2000).]

 

I sell this crap everyday and There are no magic potions in a bottle. Sure it might prolong the agony but overall you would be better investing in a rebuild or a new ride.

 

I put a can in my IROC at 75K and the oil pressure immediately started topping out at around 60psi instead of 45. It's got 135K now on the same shortblock and still puts out 60psi....still not sure if that's good or bad.

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87 IROC-Z, 5.7, auto, 3.27, leather, !cat, Holley fpr, K&N'S, SLP 1-3/4" Jet-Hot coated headers, SLP .218/.224 .495/.502 cam, Comp 1.5 roller tip rockers, $uperPITAram, Edelbrock lower intake, Holley 52mm tb, Dynomax\Flowmaster catback. Coming Soon(?)- Fasttrack/Accell DFI

1989 Pontiac 20th Anniversary Turbo Trans Am - 160,000 miles, K&N filter

 

When I first bought my car i put in 10w30 Kendal and Oil pressure was at 32 idle 55 highway. When i changed over to Mobil 1 15w50 idle was at now 45 and highway 60. synthetic is the way to go for better pressure.

 

Not so much the synthetic as the heavier oil...which will increase oil pressure generally.

 

Yo Vader,

It's sitting quietly in my garage while I scout the country for the right parts. And oh, I still have not found the right builder car - although I'm tapped back into my source. ( this is the cat that sold me the '66)

He has 4 cars between 1958 & 1962 - and one of the 62's is priced at $11,900.

It's a numbers match car - but I'm thinkin' ole Mikey's gonna start gettin' hungry along about January (when the Christmas bills come due) so, wish me luck.

I told him I did not need the motor and trans, so he is doing a nationwide search for the car I really want. This dude is seriously connected in the old vette circle.

I'll bet he has at least two good builders next spring - and I only need one.

Ye old 400 is awaiting the buildup - I want to have the car in my garage before I send the block and crank to the machine shop. I'm scouring swap meets, web pages, and local newspapers for a set of AFR heads - they come along now and then - but are usually 190's.

Uh, methinks ye old 220's will work better on this 406 - I'll be using a 252/260 @ .050 duration cam with .565/.580 lift.

Zing a 406 to 6,800 RPM and well......those 190cc heads ain't so big anymore.

Anywho, I've got almost the entire combination figured out, (jeeeeezus, you don't want to know the budget - let's just say it hurts) and other than mating a 9-inch Ferd rear end to it and hanging a custom suspension, it looks pretty straight forward.

Well, the 700R-4 / 406 combo may have some challenges, but hey....that's what makes it fun, right ?

OBTW - if the right deal on a used ATI unit with say, 10-12 psi and an intercooler comes along, well........

I'll build an 8.5 to 1 huffed thumper. That oughta keep those Viper weenies up at nite.

Course, I'll have to change my moniker to....

BOOBOO

Box Of Outrageously Blown Old Ordnance.

NYA AH AH.......

God, this coffee's really hittin' the spot, ya know ?


BOR

 

Does it work? Depends on what you want...
I used it on another car I have before I rebuilt the engine. It used oil (worn rings/cylinders, bad guides) like crazy. I used a few cans here and there (like every 2000 miles?) and it did work, no more smoking and MUCH less oil usage. More power too. Mechanic in a bottle? No. For short term tho, it does work.

 

how short term though? Is the stuff going to wear my motor farther?

 

I dont think its going to create any more wear. At the time I didnt have the $1000 to rebuild the motor. I think I used it for a little more than a year, and it never got any worse than it was in the first place.

 

wow... sounds good. sounds great actually. I just want to stop a bit of the oil burning at startup. I... like you... do not have $1000 to throw into a motor rebuild.

I appreciate the info!

ZachS

 

Restore is great if you are short a quart of 5 dollar oil

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-Red '88 IROC 5 Speed 305 TPI w/3.08
-Dual Friction Centerforce Clutch
-Accel 300+ Racing Ignition
-Accel 300+ Pro Sleeve Plug Wires
-Accel U-Groove Plugs
-Flowmaster Force II 3 Chamber Cat Back Exhaust
-Hypertech Chip
-Hypertech Airfoil
-Removed, Then Re-installed (out of fear) MAF Screens
-Gutted Air Box
-Best E/T 14.686, 60' 2.205, 1/8th mile 9.461, 1/4 MPH 93.91
-Best 60' 2.17

 

I asked about this a while ago in other internet place; the bulk of the "good stuff" messages were from people who's motor was burning a ton of oil. Their oil consumption reduced dramatically, but that's about it.

I've been thinking of trying it; if I do, I'll get (new) compression #'s with my compression tester. Then I'll run the stuff. Then at the next oil change I'll run the compression test again- to see if anything changed.

Oh- nobody had put it into a perfectly-running motor... which is why I'm a bit leary of trying it. They all put it into motors that were more than half shot.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

 

Box, you sure that Toro seized? Most small engines, including lawn mowers, have an oil pressure sensor that cuts the ignition when pressure drops off. When you added the "elixer", you just restored its ability to produce oil pressure.

 

alright i know im gonna get flamed for this, but i do believe restore works, just because i like the product means im gonna buy and use that "oil change in a bottle" crap.. restore is the only additive ill use.. every application ive used it in ive noticed an improvement.. the best proof is the old chevette.. hill by my house.. wouldnt make it up the hill in 3rd, two cans later and about 1000 miles later i can climb in 3rd no problem.. did a compression test too, and i asked my buddy to verify on this one, dont remember the exact numbers, but there was a slight gain with restore..

 

Restore uses a graph with their magazine advertisement that shows the compression results before and after using their product. My question would be how long does this compression increase last? I'm sure it is only temporary. I believe they say to include another treatment at each oil change.

I believe one of the original questions was, will it decrease smoking at startup? I believe this product helps the piston rings seal better and may not work as effective for bad valve stem seals.

I thought I read some posts on this message board about someone using the new Valovine high mileage oil and it helped reduce the start up smoking problem and oil consumption.

 

i donno but every vehicle i regularly use it on i use it every third oil change.. just for the fact im paranoid of all those little fragments floating around my engine, and clogging my filter prematurely...

 

For every testimonial here, I could give a similar story with AMSOIL crankcase flush and synthetic oil.

Consider this: No oil manufacturer recommends the use of any additive with their product. This is because they formulate the lubricant to be a package, and anything added to it could negate benefits they've built into their package.

Consider this also: No oil additive will change the fundamental problem with petroleum-based lubes - their inability to handle high temperatures and high loads.

Stop fooling around with bandaids, and fix the real problem.

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82 Berlinetta, orig V-6 car, now w/86 LG4/TH700R. 2.73 unlimited slip. Cat-back from '91 GTA, Accel HEI SuperCoil. AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Daily driver, work-in-progress (LB9 w/ZZ3 cam, TBD heads, exhaust, paint, etc.).
57 Bel Air, my 1st car. 0.030 over 396, Weiand Action+, Edelbrock 1901 Q-Jet, Jacobs Omnipack, 1-3/4" headers, TH400 w/TCI Sat Night Special conv & shift kit, 3.08 10-bolt, AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Best 15.1 @ 5800' Bandimere. Daily driver while Camaro was being put together.

 

I heard that the Restore helps the rings seal around the piston, which helps to decrease all that oil smokin crap. Used it in my mom's 93 Taurus wagon, made the most difference i have ever seen in that thing. (hunka junk Ford). It had like 120,000 on it though.

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--Steve S-- 84 Trans Am 305 HO 5 speed, completely stock will soup up when i get some $$$$$$$$$$